


Apex Predators

by mercilessharpy



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Case Fic, Experimentation, Horror, Monsters, Multi, Other, Post-Canon, first time fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:22:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25423090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercilessharpy/pseuds/mercilessharpy
Summary: At first, Leo didn’t see it, mistaking it for a dapple of shadow. But as the clouds moved the dark mark on the flagstones stayed the same. Leaning close, he clenched his teeth in nervous expectation of what he would find. Deep down he knew what it was even before a closer look confirmed it. Three long claw marks, embedded in the stone wall on the edge of the building.When two people mysteriously disappear on the same night, the four brothers take it upon themselves to investigate. But doing so may just lead them somewhere they have no way of coming back from.edit - new version will have shorter chapters and hopefully won't take another year to update.
Kudos: 7





	1. First Move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the updated version of this fic. I lost interest in the tmnt fandom for a little while but it's mostly come back now so i'm giving this fic another go. A word of warning; later chapters may contain elements of tcest. I haven't decided that for certain so I've left it out of the tags for now. I'm open to comments so long as they are respectful, as I understand that the subject of tcest makes some people uncomfortable, and I don't want that to stop them from enjoying my story. That said this is still my fanfiction, and the decision hasn't been made yet, so for now I'll be keeping things pretty ambiguous and leave interpretation to the reader. 
> 
> With that, I hope everyone finds something to like in this very self-indulgent first time work of mine.

Corrine Huvelle made her way down the darkening streets of New York. Her insides were burning with pent up frustration from her day at the office. Her train had also run late, some complication with the schedules or what fucking ever! The point is, she was furious, and late for dinner. She longed to hit something. 

Tucking her bag close under her arm, she quickened her step, her throat closing up a little with anxiety every time she passed a dark alley. She imagined massive hands with long clawed fingers reaching out and dragging her into that abysmal blackness. Every time she passed a streetlight, she’d hesitate for a moment, as if the barest illumination these fixtures brought was all that was protecting her from the predatory night. A silly notion for sure, one most people were supposed to grow out of. But nonetheless, she lingered in the light, and rushed headlong through the dark patches between those artificial halos. 

Her sensible heels clicked a nervous tempo on the worn out pavement. She was in too much of a rush to be wary of cracks in the stones, and she tripped numerous times, feeling her gut clench tight with frightened anticipation each time. She was panting now. Though the evening was cool, the seasons having just started turning into an early autumn, her blouse stuck to her underarms and back from her sweat. She could tell she was nearly home, perhaps just another twenty minutes, she recognized the street even in the disappearing light. 

She passed an abandoned street vendor. If she’d been in the right mind to think, she’d have wondered why it hadn’t been packed up and wheeled away to wherever those things ended up when they weren’t being used. Or maybe she’d notice the abandoned vendor's cap sitting on the sidewalk beside it, cheerful hot dog caricature grinning up at the sky. 

Fifteen minutes and she’d be home. Or was it ten? It was honestly impossible to be sure how much time had passed since she’d got off the train, how long she’d been walking down this foreboding street. Nevertheless she could feel herself finally relaxing a little as she drew closer to home, berating herself internally for being so paranoid. Murders in dark alleys were something the media often sensationalized. They didn’t just happen to anyone, especially not in a relatively well-to-do neighborhood like this one. Especially not to her. She found her frustrations beginning to come back, exacerbated by the tension of her transit home. Her mood was black and sour as she passed yet another alley, its black opening gaping like a hungry mouth. 

She heard the sharp tone of something striking metal, and despite her better judgement, seized up on the spot. She came to a stop just off the corner of the alley’s entrance, teetering on the front of her feet as if still about to take another step. Slowly she turned her head around, her hand creeping into her bag to grasp a can of M.A.C.E. The world seemed impossibly still around her; she couldn’t even hear a nearby car, which felt strange. It wasn’t that late, surely there’d still be people driving on the streets as they came home from work? She waited, her breath stalled in her chest, but there was no other sound coming from the depths of the alley, or from anywhere for that matter. It was like the whole world was frozen in waiting for something to happen. 

She let out her breath in a shaky rush. She took a step to continue walking, when she heard a scuffle from above her. A pit pat of small stones struck her head, and she jerked to look up, only to see something huge falling towards her. She let out a scream as it, whatever it was, hit her in the chest and sent her sprawling, completely knocking the breath out of her. Something, possibly a rib, gave in with a wet scrunch. She gasped out a mouthful of blood, and was completely unable to gather herself before she was being dragged into the alley way. 

Across the street, a light flickered and died. A helicopter whizzed by somewhere overhead. Somewhere a door slammed, and down the road a dog started its evening howl. The night settled around an empty neighborhood, where by the road a lonely street vendor sat, alongside a crumpled hot dog cap, and, a few hundred feet away, a bloodied tote-bag.


	2. The Latest Report

The rising sun of another nondescript Tuesday in New York City clawed its way out of the long island bay and up the city’s numerous skyscrapers. The people of NYC awoke to waxy blue shadows and the promise of the return to the busy drawl of their daily lives. Most met the morning with loathing or indignation, already wishing for it to be over. 

Most people weren’t Leonardo. 

His three brothers came into the kitchen with varying looks of early morning glory on their faces. Raphael, the first to enter, shot Leo a habitual murderous look and marched straight for the cupboard to rummage after his favorite cereal. Donatello was next, not even looking at either of his brothers, instead heading right to the coffee pot. His mask was still on, slightly wonky from sleeping in it. Then Michelangelo, scratching his rear and yawning into his hand, came in with a slouch, and collapsed into a chair at the table to lay his head in his arms. Donnie finished pouring coffee and sat across from him, soon joined by Raph, who slammed down his cereal bowl and a carton of milk, startling Mikey awake. Leo watched all of this with exasperated fondness from where he stood leaning against the counter. 

He was plenty used to facing their resentment for getting them up every morning, without fail, for the last ten or so years. If anything he found it a little amusing. Over time, it seemed they’d settled into the routine of it; get up early, gripe at Leo and each other, do morning training, relax, train again. Maybe they’d be able to bust up some bad guys while on patrol, but ever since they’d put down the Shredder for good and sorted out all those crazy time shenanigans two years ago, life in New York has been woefully devoid of crime. Leo liked to remind the others that this was a good thing, that it showed just how good at their jobs they were. But even he could confess, only to himself, that he missed the days when there was an enemy somewhere for them to fight. Of course he’d never wish for the return of Shredder; that was an enemy he could go a thousand lifetimes without facing. But he could see plain as day that the lack of activity was having an atrophying effect on him and his brothers. Splinter could lecture them at length about the bounties of a peaceful existence, but that didn’t change the fact that they were warriors. Maybe they needed a fight. Maybe that was all that gave them purpose anymore. After all, what else could they hope to achieve as mutants, unseen by the larger world?

Leo shook himself out of the dark place in his mind where those thoughts lead. This was another of his rituals; in the quiet moments between ordering his brothers into shape, training, studying, any time he had nothing to occupy his mind, he had the same thoughts. He’d question their purpose and their place in this world, where destiny may take them next. If they’d done all that the universe had put them here for. If maybe they’d become redundant with no more evil to cleanse from the world. 

He went to sit with the tallest of his brothers, taking the begrudgingly offered cereal box and extra bowl Raph had apparently grabbed. He smiled at him gratefully, and Raph rolled his eyes, but smiled back briefly before tucking into his cereal. They stayed like that, Raph and Leo eating the same cereal, Mikey with his head sinking back into his arms, Donnie staring into the distance and knocking back coffee. These silences weren’t that unusual for them nowadays; if anything Leo welcomed them over the arguments that broke out, as pent up energy sizzled and spat and boiled over like water too long on the heat. Like he said, they were warriors. They weren’t made for inactivity. 

A raspy cough followed by the noise of an old throat being cleared broke the amicable silence. Their father came into the kitchen already bearing a steaming mug of tea, his tail sweeping the floor behind him with a sound like a straw broom. He hummed a bouncing ditty as he took his place at the final chair among them. 

‘Good morning, my sons.’

‘Good morning, Sensei,’ three of them chorused. Mikey muffled a faint ‘morn’n’ from where his face was still smushed into the kitchen table. 

Splinter looked around at the four of them, his furry snout relaxed, brown eyes glittering with enviable freshness. It wasn’t natural for someone his age to be so collected at such an hour. 

‘I take it we all have plans for some extensive training today? Leonardo?’ 

‘Hai, Sensei,’ Leo said, straightening in his chair. ‘I was thinking we’d start with some regular sparring in the dojo, then complete an agility course in the sewers just outside the lair. I mapped out a route last night.’ 

His brothers all groaned. ‘Course ya spent the night doin’ that,’ Raph griped. 

‘It beats staying in the lair doing breathing exercises,’ Donnie remarked sourly. Leo laughed internally. Don could easily beat Raph for grouchiness if he skipped enough hours of sleep. He looked to his youngest brother. 

‘What about you, Mikester? Feeling up to a bit of race today?’ 

Mikey lifted his head. ‘There a prize?’ he asked dubiously. 

‘Maybe,’ Leo said, ‘You’ll have to participate to find out.’ 

Mikey moaned piteously and lent back in his chair, flinging out his arms like a pleading saint. Master Splinter chuckled at his son’s dramatic display, and rose to exit the kitchen, heading for the living room with the intent to check the news.

The boys finished their breakfast, Mikey hurriedly scoffing leftover chow mein of unknown age, and accompanied their father to the open part of their home. Mikey trudged over to throw himself onto a worn out bean bag, Raph perched on the arm of the couch, and Donnie stayed standing, another cup of coffee in hand. All of them looked to Leo, most expectant, Raph just looking his usual amount of peeved. 

He decided to take a little mercy on them. ‘We’ll start practice in thirty,’ Leo announced. The others grunted in assent and turned their attention to the television. Splinter flicked through channels, searching for any news alerts that grabbed his attention. He settled on one about the closing of some Italian place in Boston after they discovered a rat colony in the store room, and Leo left them to it. He ascended the staircase to his bedroom to grab the plans he’d sketched for their agility course last night. He decided he’d set that up after practice, while the others broke for lunch. He grabbed a pen for making any corrections he thought of and went to rejoin the others downstairs. He was just exiting his room when he heard Raph calling out.

‘Leo, get down here, you’re gonna want to see this.’ 

Leo hurried down and came to stand behind the couch. The others were fixated on the tv, where a middle aged reporter looked at them seriously through the screen. 

‘....began the search early this morning after Miss Huvelle, forty nine, didn’t come home last night. She was reported missing by her nineteen year old daughter at around 5:00 this morning, and a cursory search turned up a handbag that presumably belonged to the missing woman. As well as this, another potential missing person; a Mr Evan Lindeseed, twenty two, didn’t come home after his shift as a street vendor, and was reported missing around 11:15 last night by his mother and father. The cart he was said to be using was found on the same street as Miss Huvelle’s bag, and police believe the same culprit, or culprits, may be at fault. This came as an unprecedented surprise as New York has so far seen nearly two years all but free of crime…..’ 

The four brothers looked at each other, then to their father, who looked pensive about what he’d just heard. It wasn’t unusual for people to go missing in New York, but two from the same street, on the same night, seemed like too big a coincidence. When Splinter looked away from the tv screen to meet the questioning gaze of his sons, he couldn’t ignore the faintest flicker of excitement in all their faces. 

‘It would seem that the city requires your help once again,’ he admitted with a sigh. 

‘Heh, guess ya plans for today ain’t happening after all, hah Leo?’ Raph coaxed with a grin, nudging his brother's arm. Leo drew up authoritatively, but inside he was quivering. Was it relief? No, it was more like anticipation. To hell with an obstacle course, someone needed their help again, finally! 

‘We should start where the woman disappeared,’ he stated. ‘Donnie, I want you getting on to research. Find out as much as you can about the missing and their families, any criminal activity in the area, anything you think might help us. You can have an hour before we head out, I want the trail to still be fresh.’ 

‘You sure about that Leo?’ Mikey asked. ‘I mean, the place will probably be crawling with cops, and it's morning rush. Isn’t it risky?’ 

Leo took Mikey’s question with a nod. ‘It's definitely risky, but if we wait too long there’s a bigger risk that the trail will be cold. If we’re careful we should be able to avoid the cops.’ Leo thought for a second, then added, ‘Plus, all that confusion stirred up by police might serve as a distraction. If we do this right, we won’t be noticed.’ 

The others nodded, though Mikey looked ready to argue. He seemed to rethink though, and Leo figured the excitement of finally having something to do won out over caution. 

Donnie headed for his lab, calling over his shoulder, ‘I’ll get right on that then. Someone better bring me coffee later.’ 

Raph surged to his feet, an eager fire already stoking behind his golden eyes. Mikey stood as well, bouncing over to join the remaining three brothers. 

‘Can we do something, like, to prepare? What can we do?’ 

Raph cracked his knuckles. ‘Wanna go a few rounds to warm up?’

Mikey made a face like a baby would after tasting a lemon.


	3. The Investigation

The street was indeed packed. Most of the neighborhood was barricaded on two sides by police tape, and at least two vans for the forensics team sat on each end. Between them teams of officers and gloved people with flash cameras milled about. Reporters camped out on the other side of the tape, occasionally clamoring for the attention of passing cops. No one was looking in the direction of the roof tops, where four turtles crouched to observe the goings on below. 

‘The police report is still updating,’ Donnie said, ‘but so far it says the woman disappeared at approximately 9:40 pm, the man at 7:00 when his shift was supposed to end. Both within about five blocks of one another.’

‘What evidence do they have so far?’ Leo asked, eyes on the street below. 

Donnie checked the notes on his small tablet. ‘They found the boys hot dog cart, no signs of disturbance. He dropped his cap, nothing on it but hair. The woman’s bag was found a few yards away outside an alley. That had blood on it. Blood in the alley too. I didn’t get any more details than that, it's just the initial report.’ 

‘Alright,’ Leo huffed, ‘we check the alley, see if we spot anything the cops didn’t.’ 

Together they leaped across the gap between roofs onto a building close by, and kept going until they reached the one that overlooked the alley way in question. A single photographer was wrapping up her shots of the alley floor before heading back to join the others. 

‘Mikey, I need you on lookout. The rest of us will look for clues. Don’t leave anything out.’ 

‘Why am I always the lookout?’ Mikey grumbled. Leo ignored him. The three of them left their youngest brother on the rooftop as they descended to the ground, quiet as leaves falling. They touched down and crouched behind two dumpsters, peeking out to scan the policemen passing the alley opening. They seemed to be close to wrapping up, and while they did so, the three turtles slunk out warily, eyes half on the entrance and half scanning the ground. 

At first glance the ground looked ordinary, the expected amount of grime and trash coating the surface. However on closer inspection, they could see where the detritus had been disturbed. A wide track in the dirt had been drawn from the alley entrance to about half way in. Mingled in with the dirt were muddy looking scuffs which, when Leo leaned in close, were revealed to be drying blood stains. Small and thin, more like paint flecks than splatters. So the victim hadn’t been terribly injured when she was apparently dragged away. Of course they’d need samples to confirm if it was the woman’s blood at all. Leo looked to Donnie to see that he was already on it, carefully retrieving a dab of the tacky liquid from somewhere it hopefully wouldn’t be noticed.

He turned his attention back to the ground. He followed the drag marks at a crouch to where they ended, near the wall of the building on the right side of the alley way. There was a little more blood, disarrayed scraps of paper and dirt like something had kicked it around. The victim trying to get away? He examined the marks closer, and his eyes came to be drawn to the wall. It was an elderly building with a crumbling exterior. Old red brick and mortar painted over in ugly beige to look new. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like this part of the wall was more damaged than the rest. Unusual spaced punctures in the brick work, long vertical furrows. They were almost like….. 

Leo lifted a three fingered hand and laid his fingers into the indents. He stretched the digits a little, curled them inwards slightly, and raked downwards. The skin on the back of his neck tingled. His hand matched up to the markings almost perfectly; three evenly spaced out claw marks, carved into the brickwork by something with three fingers. 

He felt Raphael's presence at his side. 

‘Donnie’s got all the samples he needs. There’s nothing on the other end of the alley, maybe we should go?’ he said. Leo stood up, checking outside the alley to see that no one was looking his way. They were clear. 

He grabbed Raph’s hand. ‘Can you check something for me? I need to see if I’m right.’ 

Raph looked at him like he was a little loony, but huffed and let Leo direct his hand into the same position his own had just been in. Raph's hands were a little bigger than Leo’s, and he didn’t need to stretch his fingers as much to slot them into the furrows. 

‘Do these look like claw marks to you?’ Leo asked. 

Raph furrowed his brow. ‘I….guess? Hang on.’ He performed the same action as Leo, dragging his hand down to follow the path of the furrows. He twisted his mouth in thought then took his hand back. 

‘Well?’ Leo asked expectantly. He was beginning to get antsy, being so exposed out here. 

‘It could be, I don’t know. Maybe some dude went at it with a crow bar at one point, who knows. Get Donnie to take a picture.’ 

Leo nodded. He still felt uneasy as Raph beckoned Don over and he started snapping pics of the markings. 

They finished things there, and headed back up to the roof where Mikey was sitting looking despondent. 

‘What took so long?’ he asked plaintively. Raph tugged his bandanna as he passed. 

‘Learn a little patience, Mike. Might save you some brain cells in that overcooked pie of yours.’ 

Mikey swatted him away along with a soft admonishment from Donnie to ‘be nice’, but Leo’s mind was elsewhere. He couldn’t get the image of those marks on the wall out of his head. Raph's theory about somebody having it out on the wall just didn’t match up. The marks were too uniform, too evenly spaced. No one in the grip of rage could be that precise. 

Leo pushed the thought to the back of his mind as they headed back the way they’d come. They were a few buildings away already when Mikey suddenly came to a complete stop.

‘Hwwwaaait up! Donnie, can I ask you something real quick?’ 

The others halted and looked back at the orange banded ninja questioningly. 

‘Yeah, shoot,’ Donnie said, clearly puzzled. 

Mikey hurried a little closer, looking like he’d just finished a difficult crossword puzzle. ‘You looked at the police report for the places where those guys went missing, right?’ 

‘Yes,’ Donnie answered. 

Mikey fluttered his hands. ‘What did they find where the hot dog dude disappeared from?’ 

Donnie glanced up as if remembering. ‘Just the hot dog cart and a hat, I think. Why?’ 

‘So, there was like, blood where that lady disappeared. What else?’ 

Raph chose to chime in. ‘There were drag marks, and she dropped her bag. That had blood on it too, right?’ He looked to Donnie, who nodded in confirmation. 

Mikey was beginning to look excited. ‘And everyone thinks they were taken by the same guy, or guys. But only one left drag marks, and only one spot had blood. The lady left a trail when she got snatched, but Hot Dog Guy just up and vanished in the middle of a busy street? How does that work?’ 

Leo could see that Donnie was confused and Raph, just plain frustrated. ‘Mikey, could you get to the point, please?’ 

Mikey held up a finger and wagged it in the air, a bright grin forming on his face. ‘Ho ho Watson, but I have.’ He gestured towards the street below, where people were still coming and going on their way to work, or from if they did night shifts. 

‘Hot Dog Guy is doing his job in the open and someone just up and nabs him, without anyone noticing? I don’t think so. The point I’m trying to make here is; where do we usually go to move around without being seen?’ 

‘The sewers!’ Raph declared. Mikey winced.

‘Close, but not quite.’ 

The three of them looked at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments. It was Donnie who spoke first, snapping his fingers in realization. ‘Of course, the roof tops. Easily accessible from the street here, you can see a walkway right there.’ 

Leo wasn’t quite convinced. ‘But how does that work, Mikey? Why would Hot Dog Guy be on the roof tops in the first place?’ 

Mikey’s grin faltered for a second as he thought, but came back full force as he gave a clap. ‘Let’s find out. Where’s the nearest accessible rooftop?’ 

Donnie barely managed to point towards a roof two buildings over before Mikey was off. They hurried to keep up as he leapt the gaps and landed in a crouch atop a fairly low standing building, with the pagoda of a shop front below poking out from the front facing wall. The wall of police tape was visible a few feet away, and beneath them they could see the abandoned hot dog cart which the police still hadn’t disturbed. On the left hand side of the building, an iron wrought spiral staircase led up to the upper levels of the building, where they stood now. They found themselves standing among a mediocre roof garden, in the midst of losing all of it's summer vitality. 

Mikey was busying himself scanning the ground and scattered flower pots, when he let out a joyous ‘aha!’ and came rushing back to his brothers with something in his hand. 

‘Tell me I’m brilliant, go on, I won’t stop you.’ He flourished the thing he’d found, a crumpled little stub of paper. Donnie plucked it out of his hand and gave it an experimental sniff. His nose crinkled. 

‘Marijuana,’ he announced. Mikey snapped his fingers in succession like a tap dancer. 

‘Exactly! So Hot Dog Guy, let’s say he gets bored manning the cart and decides to come up to a roof top to smoke a joint, just one to take the edge off. When suddenly, bam! He’s grabbed by our perp. No one sees, no trail for the cops to find. But I did.’ He puffed out his chest, crossing his arms in what he no doubt thought was a heroic pose. 

Leo sighed. ‘That’s a pretty good theory Mikey. But how can you be sure this was Hot Dog Guy’s joint?’ 

Mikey deflated. ‘Well, I….’ 

Donnie clapped him on the shoulder. ‘I’m sure I can do a test with this. Hopefully the substance won’t interfere with the DNA.’ 

‘But,’ Mikey stammered, ‘shouldn’t we- you know, look around, for more clues and stuff?’

Raph and Leo traded glances. Leo sighed. 

‘How about this? You and Donnie head home. That way Don can get started on analyzing the evidence we collected. Meanwhile me and Raph will stick around here for a bit, see if we can find anything else.’ 

Mikey still looked dejected, but he nodded in agreement. Donnie and he headed for the roof's edge, and as Mikey took the jump, Donnie glanced back at the other two and gave a thumbs up. 

Leo was still watching them leap away when Raph shoved his shoulder roughly. 

‘C’mon, man, why’d ya have to do that? Now we’re stuck out in the open for longer.’ 

Leo glared at his brother. ‘He might have been on to something, Raph. You know how his mind works. Sometimes he sees things we don’t.’ 

Raph scoffed, but he didn’t rebuke his statement. ‘Yeah, whatever. So what are we looking for here exactly?’ 

Leo dropped into a crouch, skimming the ground with his gaze as he’d done in the alley. ‘Just look for anything that seems out of place or that matches what we saw in the alley.’ 

Raph growled something under his breath but, miraculously, did as he was told, getting down on his knees to check under the one bench in the garden. They searched in a grid, Raph going down the front facing side of the roof, Leo cutting through the middle and checking the left corner. They searched, and the sun climbed higher, mostly masked by dust-bunny-grey clouds. A chill wind was picking up, and it shook the remaining leaves loose from the potted trees. 

At first, Leo didn’t see it, mistaking it for a dapple of shadow. But as the clouds moved the dark mark on the flagstones stayed the same. Leaning close, he clenched his teeth in nervous expectation of what he would find. Deep down he knew what it was even before a closer look confirmed it. Three long claw marks, embedded in the stone wall on the edge of the building.


	4. A Bad Feeling

That same afternoon, after Leo and Raph had gotten home and told the others what they found, the brothers and their father sat around the kitchen table. Donnie had laid out a sheaf of papers; printed copies of the updated police report, as well as the photos he’d taken and results from his DNA analysis. 

‘Turns out I didn’t really need to bother, the guys at the lab already did tests. They confirmed the identity of the blood. It's the same woman. However, I did do tests for the joint Mikey found. I managed to get traces of the owner's saliva. It's Hot Dog Guy’s alright. And those marks Raph and Leo found at both places confirms they were taken by the same…..person.’

Donnie’s hesitation before saying the word ‘person’ rang clear for the others at the table. Leo stared at his laced fingers, the image of similarly formed claw marks wrought in stone burnt into his mind. 

‘So what are we gonna do about it?’ Raph barked. ‘Cause it seems pretty cut and dry to me. It's probably another mutant, maybe one of the monsters Shredder had Stockman create. Hell, it could even be Bishop getting back into the mutant soldier business.’ 

Both Mikey and Splinter nodded along with Raph, though Leo wasn’t so convinced. 

‘So I say we head out there tonight and track the thing down. We can handle another mutant-’

‘That doesn’t make sense though,’ Donnie broke in. Leo looked up. ‘Surely if it was one of Shredder's monsters, it would have shown up sooner. And Bishop, well he’s not exactly in a position to be making more of those things anymore, is he? Besides, after the last disaster with his mutants, it would be counter-productive to try again now. Especially since he’s not trying to take us out anymore.’ 

Raph clenched his hands, and Leo could feel his frustration peeking from where he was sitting. ‘What does it change? We’re still gonna go out and take it down, right? No matter who made it.’ 

‘Course we are, that’s our job,’ Mikey exclaimed. ‘We protect the city. We fight monsters. We did it before, so what’s changed?’ 

Leo stood, his chair scraping harshly against the kitchen floor. ‘We have,’ he said. ‘We’re older, we’re more experienced. We’re more careful. So many times in the past we’ve put ourselves and others in danger because we’ve been overconfident. We can’t allow that to become a habit again.’ 

‘Come on Leo,’ Mikey cajoled. ‘It's just the one monster, right?’

Leo looked at his brothers, and his father. He couldn’t explain the uneasiness he felt in his belly, but he definitely recognized it. It's that feeling he always got when they were missing something, like there was a piece in all this they just weren’t seeing. He’d learned over the years that ignoring that feeling was extremely unwise. 

‘I don’t want to take any chances. Not with any of you, and not with any of them.’ He leaned his palms against the table top. ‘We won’t be going in blind. We’ll patrol tonight, but I want everyone on high alert. No going off to be a hero. If you see something, tell me. In the meantime, I want Donnie to get back to doing background checks on the victims, see if anything about them stands out. We can’t rule out ulterior motives.’ 

As if recognizing that as the order to break rank, the others also stood. Donnie once again headed for his lab, while Raph and Mikey went in the direction of the practice dummy. Splinter, however, stayed where he was. His eyebrows were drawn in concern as he watched his eldest son. 

‘I sense unsease in you, Leonardo. There is something worrying you.’ 

Leo crumpled a bit under his father's gaze. He sunk into the chair and swiveled a bit to better face the elderly rat, leaning forward with elbows at rest on his knees. His face became tight with disquiet.

‘There’s something…..I can’t quite explain about this whole case. It's like that feeling I get whenever someone is about to lure us into a trap. That sense of…..expectation, like something’s biding its time.’

Splinter laid a hand on his son's toned forearm. 

‘Whatever it is, it is good you are prepared for it. I am sure that, when the time comes to face it, you will be ready.’ 

Leo smiled, but it was forced. He hoped his father was right, he really, really did.


End file.
